Quote:"Having arrived at the establishment, inmate M behaved in an extremely challenging way, expressing his unhappiness with the detention regime and categorically refusing to meet the legitimate demands of the staff – to give up his civilian clothes and change into the required uniform,"

and apparently this justified a savage beating.

While his hands were handcuffed behind his back, a group of six "men" carried out a vicious and sustained assault upon a prisoner. As he rolled on the ground he was kicked in the ribs and back, made to sit up and was slapped about the face and when he fell over was kicked repeatedly.

All off this was captured on video, originally posted on YouTube but removed before reappearing on a Russian web site. The original video is six minute long but an edited shorter version can be viewed on the Guardian's web site.

Whatever the inmate is alleged to have done while in captivity, this brutality can not be justified. What is further alarming is that two of these "macho superheroes" involved had been had been fired from serving in Russia's prison system before the incident. That begs the question of how they were able to get access to the prisoner in the first place.

Sadly I suspect that such instances are not confined to Russia. In every country there are cowardly thugs who want to don a uniform and use the protection they think it supplies to attack people they think "deserve it".

There are those who like to claim that bullies are not cowards and can be individually brave. I disagree. By definition a bully picks on those who they think are weaker and unable to fight back. In my view that makes them cowards. A brave person does not need to seek out and pick on victims who are unable to defend themselves in the way we see in the video. Indeed, they may put their own lives at risk to save those in danger. I am willing to bet that these "men" would run at the first sign of any real danger to themselves.

Cowardly scum. But the real test will be if we see prison reform designed to prevent such instances occurring in future.

Unfortunately it's really not news that Russia's prison system is exceptionally brutal. It is something that has perhaps worsened down the decades, but also which has very deep roots in Russian history. Russian prison culture and history is a huge subject area, but a couple of google searches should come up with some interesting reading materials. It is a fascinating world, but also a horrifying one.

As far as these bastards go, they could do with a taste of proson themselves, but I doubt they'll get it.

So, a big, bad, criminal gets locked up. Won't comply with regulations and is being subjected to a bit of disciplining, resulting in him crying like a little baby. Pardon me if my sympathy for this criminal fails to register on any known scale. After all, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime!

PSWhat the guards did was wrong and I'm not condoning it. But from there and to feel sorry for the criminal is a very, very long way indeed.

From receips and radials over straight pipes to big fans - been there, done that, got the hearing defects to prove

Quoting Quokkas (Thread starter):There are those who like to claim that bullies are not cowards and can be individually brave. I disagree. By definition a bully picks on those who they think are weaker and unable to fight back. In my view that makes them cowards. A brave person does not need to seek out and pick on victims who are unable to defend themselves in the way we see in the video.,

Sorry, but who exactly claims the above? I think you're combatting some awfully big straw men here. I don't know anyone who would condone the vicious beating of someone who is handcuffed, so I'm not sure where this line of argument is coming from. Obviously it's bad when people abuse their power to do harm to others, and I'm not aware of any 'debate' to the contrary.

In short, I really don't see where you're coming from with respect to the OP. Basically, some poorly disciplined prison guards in Russia beat a guy up. Not good, but not a big surprise given a variety of social factors, and not really indicative of any larger argument, other than "Prisons in Russia could stand to be better run", a point which I don't think is exactly controversial.

I cautiously say I'm in the same school of thought. There are a lot of situations where I 100% DON'T condone the actions of a person/people but it's like "come on, what did you THINK would happen!?"

Like throwing rocks at soldiers and then are outraged they shot and killed you. Yes, shooting the protester was wrong, but to the protester: what did you think would happen if you threw a rock at a guy with a gun!?

Quoting B777LRF (Reply 2): is being subjected to a bit of disciplining,

Be realistic - if you watch the video he got a total kicking. Hardly a 'bit of discipline'.....

Quoting DeltaMD90 (Reply 5): There are a lot of situations where I 100% DON'T condone the actions of a person/people but it's like "come on, what did you THINK would happen!?"

.......but yes - that's a valid point. Not surprising it ocurred, and if you have even one brain cell you probably know that if you're in a Russian jail you'd best not go out of your way to piss the guards off.

Quoting B777LRF (Reply 2):So, a big, bad, criminal gets locked up. Won't comply with regulations and is being subjected to a bit of disciplining, resulting in him crying like a little baby. Pardon me if my sympathy for this criminal fails to register on any known scale. After all, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime!

In Russia you don't do have to make a crime at all to get into a jail, though if you truly have power and government dislikes you likely you get mysteriously shot by someone.

"Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable." - Voltaire